I am not that tired so I decide to read in my library. The first thing I decide to do is to try to find a book on alchemy. This is not hard as I find a number of books on alchemy from beginner’s manuals to advanced books on alchemy. What is surprising to find is that alchemy is not used in the same ways across races. In books from home, alchemy was used for potions and poisons. Sometimes it was used to make things to simulate grenade effects and the like. The shigan while they had used alchemy for some of these purposes, had mostly used it to refine metal and strengthen materials. The shigan had been the first to develop bronze. Being the miners and artisans, they were this was not a surprise. Based on what I read from the books available this was part of the reason this world had not moved out of the bronze age. Unlike earth, this planet seems to have a surplus of tin where it was semi-rare on earth. Couple that with the shigan’s alchemy which strengthened the bronze they produced it would make it easy to get stuck in one period of time.

It was also obvious that the shigan were beginning to start to work on other metals. Their mine had started producing a hard grey rock with red streaks. The new metal sounded like hematite to me I had already seen it and in fact, collected some of it. It was in some of the rocks that I had collected at the lake and some of the other stones around the glade. It was obvious that the shigan were trying to find a way to purify the metal to work with it. It was also obvious that when they started to do so was when they were attacked as these were some of the last entries in the library. The first thing I learned was how to make a simple acid that was used to test metals. I went down to the lab and made some after a little trial and error. I like most, had taken high school chemistry so this was not that different. In fact, this was harder because of the lack of certain specifics.

You have learned the skill Alchemy.

You have learned the skill Alchemy: Shigan.

Now that that is out of the way I pick up the original missive along with Rogul’s notes. It did not take long before I got the skill Rogul learned to make himself more powerful.

You have learned the skill Alchemy: Tsoho.

I learned that the ancients were called Tsoho. I also learned that Rogul learned how to take cores and have the skill that would be learned from it not be random. I also turned an amount of the randomness of the process into XP. So, if you had say, a large amount of cores, you could up your levels relatively fast. Which from his notes is what he did, he also gave himself skills that would make him hard to kill.

At the moment I was more interested in the shigan alchemy.

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Alchemy: Active Skill.

This skill allows you to make chemical concoctions for multiple purposes. This allows you to make pills, potions, elixirs, and baths. These can be used for a variety of purposes. The purpose is determined by the alchemist’s skill and training.

Alchemy/ Sub Shigan: Active.

Shigan alchemy differs in that its focus is not on people or beings. Shigan alchemy excels in the process of changing and working materials. Shigan alchemy will not allow you to change one material to another but it will allow for the removal of impurities. It will also allow you to make a material easier to work with or harden a material. This knowledge is based upon the knowledge of the user and the material used.

Alchemy/ Sub Tsoho: Active

Tsoho alchemy specializes in the refinement of cores. This refinement is a specific process and is useful to cores of all types.

I could see all of the forms being useful. Right now, the shigan alchemy was what I needed. The shigan had found a way to use alchemy to ease the smelting process. They had also found a way to use it to make beast bone malleable and to harden it back once they were done. And while they could not turn one thing into another, they were able to find a way to give one thing the properties of another. Like the ability to give beast bone metallic properties. The tsoho alchemy on the other hand would be useful in a number of ways. I had a dearth of cores that I could process. But I could not ignore the fact that I was seeing that I could use this alchemy to improve my own core. While this seemed dangerous and unnecessary at this point it might have implications down the line. For most of the night, I worked on my alchemy. Until I became tired in the wee hours.

The next morning, I woke and set off to travel. During the day's travel AKurra and I killed a number of beasts. We of course killed any that attacked us as well as a few that we snuck up on. I had asked the avatar about this before we left, and he had assured me that we could not really negatively affect the ecology of the forest. He just asked that we try not to kill too many of the creatures native to the forest. He showed me which creatures were native, and which were not, but cooperated with him. While that was the case the further away from the glade, we got the less influence he had over certain creatures. The hunting was less about killing the beasts and more about the need for materials. I also learned another interesting thing.

LEVEL UP! You have increased your sub classes level. You have attained level two/ two. You have received 26 attribute points you have 18 unspent attribute points.

LEVEL UP! You have increased your sub classes level. You have attained level three/ three. You have received 26 attribute points you have 36 unspent attribute points.